Okay so i am a dark elf lvl 16 that is playing mainly as a stealthy archer but for close quarters i pull out a sword and destruction magic. i like my play style quite a bit but i feel like i will need to add perks to too many different things. and as for my skills im not completely sure what would be most crucial. some advice please?

If you are going to be heavy on the bow, perk it out.

Focus on damage perks mainly, and whatever else seems interesting or useful to you. I like ranger and quick shot.

You don't have to put a lot of perks into one-handed because sneak kills do tons of damage. Unless of course you want to fight toe to toe, then focus on damage perks and blade perks. Only do the dual savagery and dual fury if you dual wield a lot, other than that its not worth it. But it sounds like you use a spell in one hand.

Destruction is pretty self explanatory. You could always specialize in one element if you are wanting to save perks.

In sneak you don't really need all the fancy forward rolling, muffling, etc perks on the left. Focus on damage perks for bows and daggers and the first perk that raises your effective sneaking.

Thanks for the near instant response. i am quite bow heavy and 90% of my kills are sneak attacks and from a distance until they get too close so it makes sense not to put alot into blade like you said. i use destruction in one hand and a blade, i never dual wield. And what would you recommend as far as skills? i was just concerned that in the end i would have too many perks into too many trees so im a bit more at ease now thank you.

Well honestly for skills I think you have plenty. You can't really be super proficient in a lot of areas, but choosing perks carefully will get you the best results.

Illusion is a good one to look at for calm/frenzy/command/ etc and can be really fun and useful.

Conjuration is great when you are in a bind, and you don't have to bother with all that many perks if you just use it every so often, Flame atronach will help you early on.

Alchemy is a strong choice, though it requires patience and some moderate perking to make it powerful, mostly I just use potions I find.

Light armor if you want more durability, but its not that essential IMO.


Really just play around and find something you like doing and save points for that. Try to look at perks and tell the difference between ones that are BENEFICIAL and those that will BENEFIT YOU. It may be cool to decapitate people, but in the long run it might not be what is pertinent for your playstyle.

Feel free to PM Me or add me on XBL to discuss anything.

Thank you for your advice. send me your tag and i will be sure to add you. I'm trying to avoid being a jack of all trades play style because i will not be able to be as proficient in the long run. i am now lvl 18 and am still doing okay besides the occasional BS death. my main perks i am adding to are archery(most), sneak,one handed(not a whole lot),destruction magic, and very little into light armor. i put 1 perk into smithing and 1 into speech also. I just dont want to short myself later on. i either want to get my enchanting up or my alchemy up poison my arrows but i feel like im on the road to overloading my perks. im still in good shape but i would appreciate some more advice and guidance. thanks in advance.

I highly recommend investing in the other schools of magic also.
I feel spellsword should use magic mostly for defensive purposes (especially if using bow also) and either restoration or alteration are great for that.
If you don't use alhemy I recommend picking some restoration spells as these two overlap quite a bit. Restoration is not just healing but stamina and magicka boosts also with perks.

Well i am a very heavy bow user and only switch to spellsword when i need to for close quarters. i use a lot of potions and my healing spell when im out so its making it difficult to really focus on one thing and choose. alchemy seems a bit more difficult than to just cast a spell so i suppose your right. If i invest in another school of magic then wont i be just shorting my other perks even more? or is that not as big of a deal as i think?

You sound very similar to my character. I have two perks waiting in the wings to use because of your exact issue. I am afraid to use them on something that will short change something else.

Its difficult because so many perks catch my eye. but i do not want to start adding perks to things that i may not use later. i feel that archery and sneak are very crucial for me so i will keep adding there. but i also have my blade and destruction that i also need though maybe not as much. i may just save my perks for when im sure of what i want but its hard to decide. i began adding into light armor(only one point) but i may not go much further than that. so i have 4 or 5 main perks but as for the non combat perks i dont what will be most beneficial to my play style.

This build feels too scattered, you may have to lower difficulty.

I dont have too much problem killing things though, especially with my sneak damage with my bow. but like you said i feel scattered. i just want to know exactly what im doing instead of sitting in lvling screen scratching my head.

I'm playing a stealth character with both a Bow and Sword (for variety), but I only have the most basic perks for both.

For Stealth, I got Deadly Aim, but I haven't bothered with Assassin's Blade yet since I can backstab people for 12x damage with the Backstab perk (x6) combined with the Dark Brotherhood gloves (x2). I also got as high as Silent Roll and I'm going to go up to Shadow Warrior, but somehow I think it will only make me marginally more stealthy, which means I just wasted 4 perk points or so.

For Magic, DO NOT underestimate Illusion, it's superpowerful but mainly if you perk out the tree. Being able to calm enemies, make the flee or even cause them to fight eachother are great ways to soften up the fight. Illusion is a bit hard to level though, you need to spam "Muffle" a lot.

I plan on stacking my bow perks out besides a couple unneeded ones. i was looking into illusion because it is very helpfull, but seeing as how i have two points into destruction already with about 4 other trees im working, if i start adding into illusion perks thats one more tree i have to worry about which is what im trying to avoid shorting my other perks.